


i forgot valentine's day but i didn't forget you

by grootmorning



Category: The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Fluff, Valentine's Day, but he tries his best to make up for it, the Punisher does not remember holidays, what is this nonsense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-15
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2019-03-18 17:53:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13686783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grootmorning/pseuds/grootmorning
Summary: Frank doesn't have time to remember holidays, especially Valentine's Day.





	i forgot valentine's day but i didn't forget you

Frank pushed open the fire escape window, dropping in as silently as he could in his combat boots. 

Karen wasn't home.

Striding stealthily to the bathroom, he took the first-aid kit and shrugged his armour off. The knife wound across his thigh was bleeding like a bitch.

He heard the sound of keys and thought nothing of it but then he heard voices, and then he froze. It wouldn't do for Karen to be caught with him in the apartment, stitching up wounds like he was familiar with the place.

"Thanks for dinner, maybe we could - " he heard Karen laugh a little before she caught herself. "Actually, this is not a great time, could we take a rain check?" She must have seen the open fire escape window and realised that he was here.

More muffled voices before Karen laughed again, this time it was awkward. "I'm sorry, I forgot I have an assignment to complete. And it has to be today."

He heard the door clicked and turned his attention back to the stitching of his wound. Heels clicked, and her shadow fell across him.

"Hey, Pete."

"Don't call me that," his voice was garbled because of the thread he was holding between his teeth. The drop in his gut at her calling him Pete was ridiculous.

"Let me help you with that," she strode over, taking the needle and thread from him and finishing up what he was doing. With a few deft strokes, she was done, and she placed the supplies in the sink to be cleaned.

He watched her carefully, even as she turned the lights off and helped him into the living room. 

"Had company?"

Karen waved it off with a hand, "Just having dinner with - "

"A date?"

She fixed him with a stare, "Would it matter to you?"

Frank looked away, to the top of his boots that were speckled with blood and his dark clothes that had seen better days. "Yes," he mumbled to himself.

"It's Valentine's Day, Frank. Why are you here?"

Peace settled within him as she used his name, probably the only person to use his actual name. But then it faded again quickly. It was Valentine's Day. Frank didn't even realise it. Maybe the happy couples in the street should have tipped him to it, but he was busy stalking a cartel member down the street and into an abandoned alleyway. 

Huh. Valentine's Day.

"So it was a date."

"Just somebody someone at the office set me up with on a whim," Karen came to sit next to him, stretching her legs out as well and kicking off her heels. 

"You gonna see him again?"

"You gonna stick around this time?" She fired back at him. 

The feelings that had surged through him during that moment that they had shared in that damned elevator rose in him again, giving him the courage to hold her gaze, "Maybe."

"I don't need or want maybes, Frank," she sighed out. "You either want to be here or you don't. It's simple."

He supposed it was simple. Frank had never really known simple. He picked the simplest situation, and made it more complicated by charging into it headfirst and messing it up. 

This was another one of those things he supposed he would mess up.

Karen sighed again, and made to get up. Frank reached out and grabbed her hand, stilling her in her seat. His thumb stroked across her skin, sending a small shudder through her body that he felt, because they were pressed up against each other. 

"I don't know simple," he said honestly, staring at their linked hands. 

Lifting his head, he held her gaze again, finding it strong and hopeful, "But I want to be here."

"That's all I need," Karen pressed her free hand to his cheek, smiling as he instinctively turned into it, nuzzling. "Happy Valentine's Day, Frank."

He shed the skin of the Punisher again, leaning in to rest against her shoulder just as Frank, closing his eyes as she ran her fingers through the longish hair he now sported. Bringing their hands up, he dropped a soft kiss onto her knuckles, listening to her breath hitch in her chest.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Karen."

May they have more in their future.

**Author's Note:**

> what writer would i be if i didn't write a vday fic for my otp?
> 
> tumblr: [here](http://ltfrankcastle.tumblr.com)  
> twitter: [here](http://twitter.com/ltfrankcastie)


End file.
